In semiconductor fabrication apparatuses, a fluid such as ultrapure water or a process gas is used frequently. To the body of a semiconductor fabrication apparatus, a large number of devices/instruments handling a fluid (which may hereinafter be referred to as “fluid devices”), such as flow control valves, flowmeters and flow controllers, are connected by forming a joint structure called “pipe joint”. In periodic checks and trouble with components constituting the body of the apparatus, fluid devices connected to the body of the apparatus are disconnected and checked, and then re-connected to the body of the apparatus by forming the above-mentioned joint structure. Apart from this, during fabrication processes, for a variety of checks/inspections and for cleaning, the fluid devices are frequently connected to and disconnected from other machines/apparatuses using a joint component.
It is therefore requested that fluid devices be able to be connected to and disconnected from the body of an apparatus by the easiest possible work, and when connected, be sealed reliably to prevent fluid leakage. A fluid joint disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a pipe joint to meet such requests.
The fluid joint disclosed in Patent Document 1 certainly meets the above-mentioned requests. Fluid joints of this type are used in large numbers in recent semiconductor fabrication apparatuses/lines configured to mass-produce the same type of semiconductor devices from large-diameter wafers. Recently, a semiconductor fabrication plant called “minimal fab” has been proposed and is expected to be put to practical use in near future.
The minimal fab is being developed for small-volume production in great varieties wherein a half-inch wafer is a unit of substrate production. The minimal fab comprising minimal-scale semiconductor fabrication apparatuses/lines is expected to reduce the amount of capital investment to one thousandth of the conventional. Early practical application of the minimal fab is being eagerly anticipated.